


Hey, Haw-t stuff!

by Danse_danse_danse (aukibs)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Crack, Crack taken out of wack, F/M, It's a few years down the line from canon, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, What is this angst doing in my crack fic..., after that it's plot, but plot too, it's not even a crack fic, maybe read just the first chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 14:32:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12134514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aukibs/pseuds/Danse_danse_danse
Summary: Marinette has a sinking suspicion that her crush, Adrien Agreste, is the supervillain Hawkmoth! But is he? Only time, and excessive 'investigating' (/stalking) will tell.





	1. A Screaming Suspicion

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fact-checking for Dummies (Superhero Edition)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11778165) by [titanialioness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/titanialioness/pseuds/titanialioness). 
  * Inspired by [Chat Noir’s Heroic Family Ties](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11631597) by [Squirrel_Stone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrel_Stone/pseuds/Squirrel_Stone). 



> Hi! This is my first ML fic. Actually, it's my first fic on AO3. This story was inspired by "Fact-checking for Dummies (Superhero Edition)" by titanialioness. Go check it out!  
> The majority of Chapter Two was _very heavily_ inspired by "Chat Noir’s Heroic Family Ties" by Squirrel_Stone, which I _literally forgot to source I'm such an idiot._ Go over and check it out as well! It's very well written, and it's much like reading an actual blog post!  
>  Anyways, I hope you enjoy ~

Ladybug watched in scrutiny as Adrien Agreste strolled calmly out of the office building onto the street, white butterflies dancing behind him. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion as he shoved his hands into his pockets and whistled, a bright look in his eyes. He didn’t get into a limousine and drive off - rather, he continued walking down the street, doing a happy jig. That in itself was suspicious - Adrien was hardly ever without his bodyguard and, as far as she knew, was never allowed to go out on his own.  
She ducked into an alley to detransform so she could discuss her findings with Tikki.  
“Tikki—”  
“Oh, hey Ladybug!”  
She nearly jumped out of her skin, her hand going to her yoyo as she whirled around and bore down on the intruder.  
Said intruder had golden hair, bright, summery green eyes, and an invisible halo over his head. Normally, she would be very nervous and stuttering around Adrien Agreste, but now that she knew what she knew… Well. She could hardly imagine stuttering around _Hawkmoth_. How embarrassing.  
“What do you want?” she said sharply.  
Adrien blinked, confused at her unexpectedly brash tone. “I just wanted to say hi. I’m a big fan of what you do—”  
_Oh, I’m sure you are,_ she thought, smiling widely as she looked at her classmate.  
Adrien looked at her with confusion and a tinge of fear. Ladybug was wearing a grin bordering on manic as she looked at him. She was shorter than he was, but he felt like cowering in her presence. He felt like he was playing a game of cat and mouse, and, for once, he was _definitely_ not the cat.  
“That’s amazing to hear!” Ladybug said, smiling that all-too-fake smile all the while, “It’s always nice to meet a fan.” Her eyes roved up and down his outfit.  
Ladybug was mildly frustrated. It didn’t look like he had anything distinctly identifying him as Hawkmoth. No strange jewellery, no earrings, no necklace, no —  
Wait a second. Was that a ring?  
Chat Noir’s miraculous was a ring!  
What a coincidence! Although, whoever had made their miraculouses must have been very unimaginative, to use a ring for both miraculouses.  
“Well,” Adrien said, flashing her his most genuine model grin, “It was very nice to meet you. Can I have a picture?”  
“No problem,” she said.  
He pulled out his phone and wrapped an arm around her neck as he lifted his phone in the air. She stiffened ever so slightly as she realized how close his hand was to her left ear.  
“Say cheese!” said Adrien, hoping Plagg would be proud of this one. He took a few pictures before Ladybug shoved his arm off her shoulders and smiled insincerely at him.  
“Well, would you look at the time! I’ve got to dash. Stay safe, Haw-t stuff!”  
And then she yoyo-ed away.

 

“Can you believe it, Tikki?” Marinette moaned as she dumped a pile of cookies onto her desk. The kwami flew over, picking one up and nearly inhaling it. How she could do that with such a small mouth truly amazed Marinette.  
“Yeah, Marinette,” Tikki said, sinking down onto the desk, nibbling a cookie, “You called Adrien ‘hot stuff’. But don’t worry, Ladybug said that, not Marinette. What are the odds you’ll meet him again?”  
“Not that!” Marinette wailed, climbing up onto the loft and stuffing her face into her pillows, “Adrien is Hawkmoth!”  
Tikki blinked. This was not what she had expected Marinette to be doing when she had stalked Adrien. “Uhh,” the kwami said, zipping over to her young charge with a cookie in hand, “Are you sure about that?”  
“What? You don’t think so?” Marinette asked, sitting up, “I went there right after the akuma attack, just as he was exiting the building! With butterflies following him!”  
“That’s not really proof, Marinette,” Tikki said, thinking of some way to weave to conversation in a way to keep Marinette from thinking _Adrien_ of all people was Hawkmoth without suggesting that she knew something.  
“He was also the one who had the book about the miraculous!” she said, “It _has_ to be him.”  
Tikki put her hands on her hips as she floated over to Marinette, a stern look on her face. “Now you’re just grasping at straws. He could have found that book _anywhere_ , Marinette. It doesn’t mean anything. Heck, he could’ve fished it out of a trash can like you did!”  
“He’s _Adrien Agreste_ ,” said Marinette, sighing, “He doesn’t do stuff like that. He’s too… too…”  
Rolling over onto her side, the girl quickly spotted the posters she had of Adrien plastered on the wall above her desk. She groaned.  
“I can’t believe I’ve been crushing on _Hawkmoth_ ,” she said, “I can’t believe I’ve had _Hawkmoth_ ’s face all over my walls for - what has it been, Tikki? Months? _Years_?”  
Tikki just sighed. Her charge would figure it out. Eventually.


	2. The Na-na-na-90s?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien finds out something exciting about his parents...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So... with a relatively warm reception for the first chapter, I think we're all set for Chapter Two! I hope you enjoy!  
> EDIT 14/11/17: The majority of this chapter was _heavily_ inspired by "Chat Noir’s Heroic Family Ties" by Squirrel_Stone, so go check that out!

Adrien flipped into his bedroom with an embellished roll, and detransformed as he landed. Plagg came tumbling out of the air, landing squarely in the trash can.

“Plagg?” Adrien called as he wandered to the trash can.

An annoyed grumble rose up from the trash can.

Adrien rolled his eyes, and pulled out some cheese from a desk drawer. He gently put it inside the trash. Then he pulled off his white over shirt and set it on his chair. Then he took a shower.

When he came back, Plagg was still in the trash, devouring his camembert, and Nooroo was slowly emerging from his pillow, yawning sleepily as he greeted him.

“Can… I… have some… honey, please?” asked the butterfly kwami.

Adrien smiled, gently picking up the small purple kwami and setting him on his bed before rifling through another drawer (opposite to Plagg’s cheese drawer, of course) and pulling out a jar of honey. He opened the lid and drizzled some onto a baby carrot (boy had the kitchen staff stared at him when he had asked them for it), and handed it to Nooroo. The kwami smiled and thanked him sleepily. Adrien made himself a honey carrot, too, and switched off the lights before crawling into the bed.

Plagg noisily complained about how weird they were for liking _honey on carrot_ and how disgustingly sweet they were (Adrien rolled his eyes and curled around the purple kwami more) until he, too, fell asleep.

 

He awoke the next day, as per usual, to Nathalie knocking on his door.

“I’m up, I’m up, I’m awake,” he said, yawning.

“Please be down in the dining hall in thirty minutes,” Nathalie said behind his door, and left.

He took a shower - again, he was a model, remember? - and changed into his school clothes before scanning the room for the kwamis.

Nooroo was missing, but he had likely gone to the garden as he was so prone to doing these days. Adrien had only had him for a few weeks, and was still trying to get used to his habits.

He would have to go find him later - after breakfast, perhaps - but for now, he scooped Plagg out of the trash can, ignoring the tiny cat’s grumbles as he placed him inside the right side of his over shirt.

He ate breakfast, a measly, unsatisfying meal as per usual, before excusing himself to go for a brief walk around the grounds.

He finds Nooroo, predictably, in the garden, delicately sniffing some of the lilies by the fake pond his father had installed.

“Good morning,” Adrien said, “Do you like lilies?”

“Oh, good morning, Adrien,” Nooroo says, zipping in front of him and smiling softly, “Yes, I like lilies. I like most flowers - I _am_ a butterfly, after all.”

“Do you have a favourite?” Adrien asked as Nooroo zipped into his over shirt without question.

He felt the kwami hum, before he said quietly, “I don’t have a favourite flower, but I do enjoy the presence of meadow foam flowers, if only because they make the best tasting honey.”

“What does it taste like?”

“Marshmallows,” answered the kwami, “And vanilla.”

Resolving to buy vanilla marshmallows the next time he could sneak out, Adrien returned to the main interior room to wait for Nathalie and the Gorilla to take him to school.

He didn’t have to wait long - he never did, after all.

 

“Did you see the latest video on the Ladyblog?” Ladybug said after they had finished fighting the latest akuma. It was a water based one, but her Lucky Charm had scrounged away most of the water (although her bangs did look a little damp). Her earrings beeped insistently, but she lingered, looking at him with a curious expression on her face.

“No,” Chat Noir said honestly. He had woken up late that morning and had to scramble to get ready for school, and at lunch Chloe had dragged him off to her father’s hotel, so he had had no time to look at the Ladybug. “Why?”

“Alya - the girl who runs the blog, I mean - she made a video about _you_ , so I thought you’d like to see it.”

“What is it about?” he asked. She opened her mouth to answer, but her earrings beeped quickly and she smiled at him before yoyo-ing away.

 

“THE HEROES OF PARIS: 90s EDITION!”

Adrien clicked on it immediately, quickly banishing any thoughts of his assignments and projects as he sunk into the blissful abyss of the internet. He knew there had been superheroes in Paris before, but had never truly bothered to research them. Plagg settled on his shoulder as the video began to play.

Alya was outside one of the libraries near their lycée, and she was grinning widely at the camera as she wiggled her hands and greeted her viewers with her typical, “Hey, Ladybabes and chatons!”

“Today, we’re going to talk about the heroes of Paris! And I know what you’re thinking: I don’t mean Ladybug and Chat Noir this time! For this video, we’re going to go back in time about 20 or so years to the 90s!

Oh, the 90s. Strange fashion, new computers, loud colours - it’s iconic. But in Paris, the 1990s was something else - the years that the superheroes Mademoiselle Monarque (later known as Madame Monarque) and Roi Paon were active.” 

Here, a picture of said superheroes came up. Adrien paused the video and stared in scrutiny at the pair. The girl, Mademoiselle Monarque, was waving cheerily at the crowd. She was wearing a lilac coloured supersuit which disappeared into long, white knee length boots. Her shoulders were bare, and her sleeves incorporated different shades of purple in different magnitudes of sheerness. Nooroo’s brooch sat at the top of her outfit, glimmering brightly in the sun. It was bigger and looked more like a butterfly than it did now, hidden away under Adrien’s shirt.  
As for her face… Her hair, as bright and golden as his own, was pulled up into a ponytail, and a few bangs brushed her forehead. Her green eyes sparkled among the light purple that made up her mask.

What most interested him, though, was the large purple butterfly wings that stuck out of her back.

“Nooroo?” he called, and the little kwami poked his head out from under his pillow, looking up at him with big eyes.

“Mademoiselle Monarque? Was she your previous holder?”

“Yes,” Nooroo, said, his eyes meeting the floor. Nooroo, he had learned, was far more sensitive and kind than Plagg could every hope to be. He was empathetic and sweet and even tried to justify Hawkmoth’s actions by saying he was ‘desperate’.

“Do you want to watch with us?” Adrien asked, offering a hand. The kwami nodded slowly, and stepped onto his hand. He deposited the little god on his left shoulder.

Mademoiselle Monarch was holding hands with her partner, Roi Paon. He had silvery blonde hair and an electric blue mask and supersuit, accented with black and red. Two giant peacock fans were attached to his lower back, and they were only visible behind his legs. His eyes were icy and blue, and he looked out at the audience with a mild smile on his face. It was easy to tell which one of them was better with people. He also didn’t look much like a peacock, in all honesty, but he looked fit enough that if Adrien ever came across him, he would never say that to his face.

He hit play again.

“Mademoiselle Monarque was a butterfly-themed superhero, and she had powers quite similar to Hawkmoth’s - but she used them for good, not evil! Whenever trouble arose, she would send out her butterflies to find a worthy ‘Champion’, which is the good equivalent of an akuma. It was an honour to serve Paris with her!”

As Alya spoke, several pictures flashed alongside her - Mademoiselle Monarque’s first Champion, her first appearance, her with Roi Paon, her standing on a rooftop, grinning widely.

“After the battles, her Champions would always remember their memories. Find somebody who attended École de Lumière in the 90s - chances are, they were one of her Champions. It is rumoured that Mademoiselle Monarque was a student at École de Lumière.”

 _Just like it’s rumoured that Hawkmoth was a student at College François Dupont_ , went unsaid.

“She often accompanied her Champions to battle, watching and directing from a nearby rooftop. Her beautiful purple butterfly wings saved her many a time from villains seeking to take her and her Champions out. This happened a few times, of course, but she always got back on her feet.

Mademoiselle Monarque was known to be kind, gentle, and sociable. She was a role model for girls in Paris and around the world.”

Alya grinned as she let a picture of the superhero fade out. The music changed from inspirational to something more along the lines of jazzy.

“Now, on to her partner, Roi Paon.

Roi Paon was a fighter. While MM directed Champions from rooftops, he engaged the enemy in battle. See those big fans of his? They work as boomerangs, and the first feather could be turned into a blade. He appeared first, before MM and her Champions had come along. He was known to be stiff and formal, but indeed, a very caring and brave person. He was cool and collected, and his face never betrayed him. He was an inspiration, and his outfit was _definitely_ something to look at.

Now, you might be wondering what happened to our dear superheroes, and where are they now?

We’ll get to that, but first, we’ve got to discuss who they were fighting - and why Roi Paon carried fans with blades in them.”

An image flashed onto the screen. It was taken from street view, and Roi Paon was standing on the road, his eyes flashing as he held out his fans protectively in front of him. Above him, on the rooftop, stood Madame Monarque, legs spread out in a fighting stance as she clutched a cane not unlike his own his her hands.

And opposite Roi Paon, was a man. Clad in black leather. His face twisted up into a cruel grin, a black mask covering his entire head besides he his mouth and eyes, pointing up at the top like cat ears.

Black sparks fell out of his hands, and there was no mistaking _that_ power.

“Plagg?!” He turned so quickly that the kwami nearly fell off his shoulder.

“Black Plague,” Alya continued onscreen, oblivious to his turmoil, “Was a supervillain with powers just like Chat Noir’s - except, he used them for bad. Sort of a reverse Mademoiselle Monarque. But unlike Hawkmoth, he was genuinely terrifying. He used his Cataclysm to destroy monuments, object, and on occasion,” Alya shuddered, “Even _people_.”

Adrien stared at the screen, his eyes wide.

“Some of the damage he did wasn’t repaired - couldn’t even _be_ repaired until Ladybug used her first _Miraculous Ladybug_ a few years ago! He only appeared once a month or so, demanding the Ladybug miraculous, and it was years before Mademoiselle Monarque and Roi Paon could defeat him. When they finally did, it was in 1998. They blasted him across town, and took his ring off of him. They outright refused to reveal his identity, though, and it is rumoured that the superhero pair had know him personally and were shocked by the betrayal.”  
“Speaking of secret identities, our 90s duo discovered each other’s something during 1996, which spurred them to begin a romantic relationship. Like Ladybug and Chat Noir, people totally shipped them, so everyone was happy. During 1997, Black Plague taunted Mademoiselle Monarque about her superhero name, and she kindly corrected him that it was now _Madame_ Monarque, thank you very much.”

The jazzy music disappeared into some slightly depressing classical.

“And this is where we leave our heroes. Well, not quite, but I’ll explain that part later.”

An image flashed on the screen next to Alya. It was Mademoiselle - _Madame_ Monarque and Roi Paon, their hands intertwined. Both were grinning widely at the camera.

“This is the day they retired. Madame Monarque told the press that they were retiring life as superheroes as it seemed the city no longer needed them. She thanked Paris for their support, kissed Roi Paon on the lips, told the press she was going the have a child to look after soon, and then they both vanished into thin air.”

The music became upbeat.

“Now that you know all about our MM and Roi Paon, I’d like to present you with a crazy conspiracy. Ready? No? Well, I’m going to go ahead and say it anyways. Chat Noir is the son of Madame Monarque and Roi Paon.”

The music scratched up, halting as she finished her sentence.

“Okay, okay, let me explain.”

A picture of Chat Noir slid onto the screen, immediately followed by a picture of a young Madame Monarque and Roi Paon, standing side by side.

“First off, take a look at this.” Red lines traced his jaw and head shape, along with that of Madame Monarque and Roi Paon. The pictures faded out, only leaving the red lines in their place. Roi Paon’s was long and angles, while his and Madame Monarque, seemed to match almost perfectly, ending in a perfect v shape.

“Would you look at that? MM and CN have the same head shape! Now, on to other things.”

The pictures appeared again, and the red lines were gone.

“Both Madame Monarque and Chat Noir have exactly the same shade of colour in their hair, and their eyes are identical! They even have the same skin colour, for goodness sake!”

A palette appeared between their faces.

“Now, it doesn’t seem like Chat Noir has inherited anything from his father, Roi Paon, but… perhaps, it isn’t the physical things we should be looking at.”

The pictures faded, and were replaced by two pictures of Chat Noir and Roi Paon in identical poses, both holding something out, Chat Noir his baton, and Roi Paon a long pole.

“During his first few battles, Roi Paon had a tendency to ignore his fans and instead jump to find a long pole or staff of any kind, which he then used to duel Black Plague.”

A low-quality video came up of Roi Paon, well, _duelling_ with Black Plague.

The video paused, and a picture came up of a fencer in a near-identical position.

“As you can see, dear Roi Paon was most used to _fencing_ as a means of self-defence. And guess what?”

The picture of the fencer was replaced by a video of Chat Noir using his baton as a sword.

“So was Chat Noir, when he begun. This implies that Roi Paon _grew up_ fencing, and had his son learn, too.

And it’s not just that! While we can’t 100% sure how old Chat Noir is or when precisely he was born, his birth lines up just right around the time of MM and PR’s retirement.”

The music abruptly changed to the familiar upbeat bubbly theme that Alya typically ended her videos on.

“Well, that’s it for today! What do you think of my theory? Think Chat’s the son of two retired superheroes? Think he isn’t? Tell me in the comments below! And make sure to check out my friend Nino, who helped me with the music for this song! Bye, bugs!”

As her catchy endscreen music played, Adrien picked up the kwamis on his shoulders and put them on his desk.

The catchy endscreen music faded out as Nooroo looked up at him beseechingly and Plagg avoided his gaze.

“So…?” He said more to Nooroo than Plagg, “My parents? Superheroes?”

Nooroo didn’t reply.

“It makes perfect sense,” Adrien said, “Everything Alya said about Madame Monarque and Roi Paon seemed to fit my parents perfectly. My mother, kind and gentle, and my father, stiff and cold. And I suppose, if Alya is to be believed, brave.”

“Madame Monarque,” sniffed Nooroo, leaning his head onto Plagg’s. Surprisingly, the usually grumpy and unaffectionate cat let him do so, staring at the floor in a way that implied boredom.  
But Adrien knew better. He was trying to avoid the topic - he couldn’t ever bear to be seen as emotional, or wear his heart on his sleeve as Nooroo could. Plagg thought it would made him look weak, flawed - and it was better to fake indifference than to let that happen.

“My mother was Madame Monarque?” he asked Nooroo, “and my father, Roi Paon?”

Nooroo only shifted and glanced furtively in Plagg’s direction.

“Yes,” Plagg said, “Aurelie Agreste was Madame Monarque, butterfly hero, and Gabriel Agreste, her husband, was Roi Paon.”

“And… and, Black Plague?”

“Black Plague is white spot on my fur,” said Plagg, looking out the window.

“Sorry, I just…” Adrien shook his head, leaning back in his chair, “It’s a lot to process.”

“Duh,” was all Plagg said.

“Wait, so,” Adrien said after a while, “If my mother was Madame Monarque, then why did she give me the brooch? And why did she disappear right after? Do you know what happened to her, Nooroo? Why didn’t you tell me she was a superhero before?”

“Aurelie and Gabriel were being threatened by - by Black Plague. He was stalking them, threatening them, and… Black Plague… he didn’t just threaten her or Gabriel. _That_ they could handle. But he threatened _you_.”

“So _that_ ’s why we have so much security?”

“Yes,” said Nooroo, “Because of him. One day, one day Aurelie _knew,_ she just _knew,_ that she wouldn’t be around much longer. So she spent the day with you and Gabriel. She did not say a word to him, of course, he would’ve protested, he would have wailed, he would have told her that they could fix this _together_. But she _knew_. A Butterfly knows things. This was something she knew. So she spent the last of the time with her family. She gave my brooch to you and told you to keep it safe and she told me to keep out of sight until you were old enough. She knew you would wear it and keep it safe. You are her son. She is a Butterfly. She knows you. So I did as she said. I don’t know where she went. I don’t know how she is. I can only hope she is safe.”

“But then… Why did she leave? Why isn’t Black Plague going after us anymore?”

“She left because she had to Adrien. You'll understand later. And Black Plague isn't bothering you anymore because your father drove him off after your mother disappeared. One final straw, he sneaked into the house, and one of the staff found him by your room. He was going to kidnap you. Gabriel was so angry, he transformed into Roi Paon for one last time, smacking the man unconscious and taking him to the Guardian to erase his memories of knowing their identity. He dropped the man off at the police station as Roi Paon, and told them he was Black Plague. That was his last appearance as Roi Paon. Black Plague has not bothered us since, and it is likely he can continue to do so from jail.”

“Okay… but that doesn’t explain why he knew their identities. Or why you didn’t tell me this before.”

“He knew their identities because of their reaction to _his_ identity. And I can’t tell you the identity of other holders unless you figure it out first or if they’re not alive anymore.”

“So… if you couldn’t tell me my mother’s identity, does that mean…?”

Nooroo lit up, “Possibly!”

Adrien beamed and picked the kwami up, pressing him into his cheek. “I love you, Nooroo.”

“I love you too, Adrien.”

“I can’t believe I have to mix with these two. They’re so… _sweet_ …” Plagg said, deliberately avoiding the word ‘cheesy’ as he dove back into the trash can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things:  
> 1\. If you're wondering why Adrien has Nooroo, you'll find out later.  
> 2\. Alya's video was so fun to write, even though it was just a ton of exposition! I've written It in the same style I would use if I had to work on a project like that.  
> 3\. This chapter in general was so fun to write! Yep, it's an exposition chapter, but I hope it leaves you with some mysteries... and strongly worded questions.  
> 4\. This is set a few years after canon, so Adrien is quite familiar with Plagg and his ways, and Adrien himself has matured a lot. I'd say that our little gang is in their last year of high school - aka the year of death, doom, and stress.  
> 5\. Mademoiselle Monarque and Paon Roi... Where to start... first things first, MM's costume is 100% ripped off of Pixiegirl's, except it's purple. Of course, you'd have to apply Adrien's mother's face to it, and replace that purple jewel at the top of her suit with Nooroo's brooch, and pretend she has big, beautiful purple monarch butterfly wings... but same concept, really. As for Paon Roi's costume, I put a lot less effort into. Go look up any version of Peacock!Gabriel and apply it here. (Although, any art would be appreciated... hint, hint...)  
> I loved creating a story and timeline for these two! Their powers, their characters as superheroes, their costumes (even though I was super lazy with that...) I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Even if they're not in action or whatever.
> 
> My tumblr is cry-a-tivity if you want to chat!
> 
> EDIT 07/10/17: Changed Paon Roi to Roi Paon.


	3. Nice talk. But,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien messes with his father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is I, appearing once more after... nearly a week? Sorry. Do any of you fancy schedules? I'm rubbish at them, but I'll certainly try.  
> Anyways, in lieu of something actually plot-relevant, have this. I hope it makes you laugh, or smile, or at least mildly amuses you. I dunno. I'm not entirely sure how good I am at writing humour. Or crack. I'd love to write crack, though, but I don't know if I've got it in me. Although, this story did start off cracky. Ah, well.  
> Enjoy!

The next day, he had lunch at home.

And his father was there.

His father, who was Roi Paon.

His father, who was a retired superhero whose wife, another retired superhero was missing.

His retired missing superhero wife who was his _mother_.

Augh.

This was messing with his head.

“Father, you were a teenager in the 1990s, right?” he said as he set his spoon down. He could feel Plagg vibrating with laughter as he spoke, which meant he approved of Adrien’s mischief. On the other hand, he could already hear Nooroo’s gentle chastisements. _Adrien, that wasn’t very nice. He probably doesn’t want to be reminded of that time. You should be a little more sensitive._

Which, of course, only made him want to mess with his father more.

“Yes, I was,” said his father between bites of salad.

“Do you remember Madame Butterfly and Roi Paon?”

His father stiffened for a moment, before loosening again. “Madame _Monarque_. And yes, I do. Who wouldn’t - they were a very memorable team indeed.”

“And very young when they started out, too,” Adrien said, “Almost as young as Ladybug and Chat Noir!”

“Not as young as them, I don’t think,” said his father. Of course. The Great and Mighty Gabriel Agreste always had to be right, and if others weren’t right, he would _make_ them right.

He could use this to his advantage.

“I don’t think I like Madame Monarque’s powers, though,” he said. His father looked up at him in curiosity. “I mean, it’s not too different from Hawkmoth, is it?”

“Madame Monarque’s powers were _nothing_ like Hawkmoth’s,” his father growled, “Do not say that again. Madame Monarque was good and light. Her champions were strong and happy, and they would always remember their time as heroes of Paris. It was an _honour_ to serve Madame Monarque.”

“Were you one of her Champions, Father?” Adrien said, tilting his head slightly at his father’s burst of emotion.

His father relaxed, “Yes, something of the sort. Madame Monarque was quite spectacular.”

“Definitely seems so,” he muttered, “I think she must have been the leader, you know? Like how Ladybug is the leader. Chat Noir and Roi Paon just seem like sidekicks in comparison.”

“They were _partners_ , not hero and sidekick,” his father said, “And Roi Paon was on the scene far before anyone had even _heard_ of Mademoiselle Monarque. And let me tell you this - Chat Noir is no sidekick, either. He can hold his own in a battle, and if he applied himself properly, he would be even stronger than Ladybug.”

Adrien blushed slightly at the praise, and let it trickle away quickly before he looked up from his plate to speak again. “And there’s all this romance between superheroes, too. Roi Paon was the one flirting, right? He seems the type - typical ani - uh, typical bad boy stereotype. Cold and unemotional, the type to only show interest in one girl.”

His father nearly choked. “NO, no, no, Adrien, it was the other way around. Mademoiselle Butterfly hit on Roi Paon at every opportunity available.”

“I wonder what made him interested all of a sudden,” Adrien said absentmindedly, “They knew each other’s secret identities and then they were married within, what, a year?”

“Maybe he was in love with her civilian identity?” suggested his father, not looking up from his plate.

“Well, that would be a big coincidence, wouldn’t it?”

“Life is built on coincidences, Adrien.”

“Madame Monarque and Roi Paon got married, right?”

“Yes,” said his father absently.

“They had a kid, too, right?”

“Yes.”

“The kid looked more like Madame Monarque that Roi Paon, right?”

“Yes.” Adrien couldn’t believe it. His father had zoned out, and he had to speak quickly before he snapped out of it.

“The kid was adorable and they loved him very much?”

“Yes, they adored him.”

“The kid’s name was Adrien Agreste.”

“Correct.”

Silence.

“Wait a second…”

“Well, father,” Adrien said, looking pointedly up at the clock in the dining hall as he pushed his plate away and got up from his chair, “Nice talk. But, it’s time for me to head back to school. See you later!”

And with that he darted into the entrance hall and rushed past Nathalie, who was working at her desk.

“Adrien! Come back!”

Nathalie raised an eyebrow at him, glancing over to the hallway leading to the dining hall, where his father was undoubtedly running.

He edged towards the front door, plastering an innocent smile on his face, “I hope you have a nice rest of your day, Nathalie! I’m going to go back to school. Bye!”

And then he beat it.

He flung open the door to the car, told the Gorilla to hit the gas, and laughed so hard he nearly cried.

He would be in big, _big_ trouble when he got home, but it was all worth it for this one moment, the moment where he saw his father’s face flicker into understanding and shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many mysteries! Why does Adrien have Nooroo? Why did Gabriel space out? Why isn't Adrien terrified of his father? Why did Adrien even decide to mess with him?  
> ...Not for anything plot-relevant, I assure you. I'm not 100% satisfied with how the next bits are going.  
> By the way, if anyone would actually like to help me write action scenes, I would be really, really grateful, because I really, really don't like writing action. It's droll and boring for me, because most of the time action scenes add nothing to the plot unless a character does something cool or gets injured or something. I'd better just go find an article or something, ugh...  
> See you... next week or something? When do you want me to update? As long as nobody asks for tomorrow, we should be good, I think.  
> Oh! And if anything was curious about the etymology behind Mademoiselle Monarque and Paon Roi, here it is!  
> Mademoiselle Monarque - I think it's pretty obvious, but if you were to translate it into English, it would mean Miss Monarch! 'Monarque' is in reference to monarch butterflies, which are super pretty. Mademoiselle Monarque changing her name to Madame Monarque when she grew older... uh... I don't know if this is even correct or if it even makes sense in French culture. I'm just going to go with 'she was always Mademoiselle Monarque, but the public heard her telling somebody she was a Madame now, so they got rid of like six letters to shorten her name because it was too long and awkward anyways'.  
> Paon Roi - I've seen fics calling Peacock!Gabriel Haute Roi but that felt awkward for me because... reasons? I'm not French, nor am I fluent in French, therefore the Google translation "high king" felt kind of off to me. So I decided to take half of the name (Roi) and put it next to the French work for 'peacock' to make 'peacock king'. Roughly. I'm not sure.  
> Black Plague - I'm pretty sure I found this on zoe-oneesama.tumblr.com. 100% not my idea. (But then again, it was either that or Catastrophe...)  
> If anyone's French and can tell me solidly that this all makes sense, that would be great. I'm not even sure if Mademoiselle makes sense over Madame, so yeah.  
> EDIT 07/10/17: Changed Paon Roi to Roi Paon.


	4. Camille

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finds out about the Chameleon miraculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally waited for somebody to comment on updating, gave a date, and then updated the day after that date... I'm terrible, apparently.  
> I've also had a kinda -_- week but that's irrelevant to the writing so enjoy, I guess.

Marinette glanced suspiciously at Adrien. He was beaming as he spoke to Nino, who was trying to poke some answers out of him. He looked far too happy to be normal.

 _Maybe he got ahold of Chat Noir’s miraculous_ , she thought, _Oh mon Dieu, I hope not. I can’t do this without him._

Adrien, grinning ear to ear, waved excitedly at her as she walked by. “Hi Marinette!”

_Does he suspect I’m Ladybug why is he talking to me oh mon dieu oh mon dieu_

“Hi, Adrien,” she said calmly before walking into the school. Alya materialized at her side and immediately assaulted her with questions.

“What the hell was that, Marinette? Did you just say ‘Hi, Adrien’ and then completely walk past the boy without fainting or did I hallucinate that?”

She smacked her best friend in the back of her head. “No, I think I just got over my crush on him.”

Alya halted in her tracks, staring at her. “Replaced,” she muttered, “My best friend has been abducted by aliens and they have left this cheap copy of her behind, that does not have a crush on Adrien.”

Marinette glared at her best friend. 

“Okay, okay,” Alya threw her hands back, “Forgive me for being a little suspicious. Literally yesterday this time you were melting into a puddle after he _vaguely_ looked in your direction.”

“I just realized he’s just human,” she said, “and that maybe because he’s homeschooled, he doesn’t know what offering your umbrella to someone actually means. He was just trying to be nice. He would’ve done it for you, or for Nino, or hell, even for Ivan or Chloe. It was nothing special.”

Alya looked at her with a strange expression on her face as they walked into class and slipped into their seats. She would later identify it as sadness.

* * *

 

“Alright, class,” said Madame Rousseau, turning the projector off, “Now, I’d like to introduce you to your new classmate - group project!”

Everyone groaned.

“Yes, yes, I know,” the teacher said, “You’re annoyed. Okay. But would you like to actually _hear_ about the project before you decide to hate it?”

There were some noises of affirmation.

“Great! Adrien, please pass out these papers with the assignment on them to the class.”

Adrien took the pile of papers and started making his way around the room. Marinette carefully avoided his gaze as he placed the paper on her desk and moved on. Alya gave her another weird look.

“For this project, I would like you to research some superheroes - past or present, it doesn’t really matter. You must find out their objective, their powers, and eventually, how they disappeared. If you are researching a time period in which more than one superhero was active, you must discuss the relationship between them. Obviously, everybody will want to do Ladybug and Chat Noir, but here’s the catch,” she paused for a moment, and everyone looked up.

“You must all pick different superheroes,” she said.

Next to her, Marinette could practically feel Alya vibrating in her seat. She glanced over to her, and Alya quickly mouthed “Group?”, and she nodded in confirmation.

“Now, as much as I know you want to pick your own groups, I’m afraid that is not happening again,” said Madame Rousseau, clearly remembering the _last_ time, “I have put you all in groups of varying sizes. Before I tell you about them, I must tell you about the last rule.”

“There are more?” whispered Alya, who was looking slightly deflated.

“The amount of people in your group must directly correspond to the number of superheroes you are researching. This also means that there are some people working alone.”

Marinette glanced around the room. Everyone was looking either excited or concerned.

“You must create a presentation about the superheroes you researched, and you will be graded on how much information you present and how entertaining your presentation is. Now, for the groups,” Madame Rousseau switched the projector back on, where the groups were.

“If you could all get in your groups now,” said Madame Rousseau.

Marinette felt her heart sink as she read over the words again. _Group 4: Marinette & Adrien._

* * *

 

“Madame Rousseau wants our superheroes tomorrow,” said Adrien, “Do you have any ideas?”

“We could just do Ladybug and Chat Noir and be done with it,” Marinette suggested. She could really write an entire presentation about herself and Chat Noir. Surely Adrien could, too, being Hawkmoth and whatnot.

“I think Alya would literally kill us,” Adrien replied.

“Yeah, well, Alya can’t do them either,” she said, “Alya’s in a group of three.”

“Then _Chloe_ would kill us.”

“Shucks for Chloe, she’s working alone. Thank goodness.”

“We’d have to literally race every other pair to the front of the room, but we both sit relatively close to Madame Rousseau’s desk, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Adrien, “Are you alright with Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“Sure,” Marinette said blandly, “But what happens if somebody gets them before us?”

“We can do Madame Monarque and Roi Paon,” replied Adrien.

“And if somebody gets _them_ before us?” Marinette said in a more challenging tone of voice.

“We can do the Chameleon and Fox team of the the 60s,” suggested Adrien, not put off by her tone.

“Chameleon and Fox team?” Marinette said, sitting up straight.

“Camille and Callidus,” said Adrien, “Camille had the power to imitate the power of any other superhero, while Callidus had the power to make illusions.”

“That’s a _thing_?” Marinette said, stunned, “Imitating powers?”

Adrien tilted his head slightly, “Yes?”

“So… in theory, Hawkmoth could have Camille’s powers, right? And the real butterfly is actually just innocent?”

“Definitely,” said Adrien, “Camille could copy the powers of any other miraculous, the butterfly included. Although, the one she picked most often was the fox. I think she was trying to piss her partner off or something.”

“So…” Marinette said, “Uh, I have to go to the bathroom!”

She marched out of the classroom.

“Tikki?” she said as soon as she was sure she was alone.

“Yes, Marinette, the Chameleon miraculous does have that power,” Tikki said, “It’s not in our circle, it’s more of a lone miraculous, really, but it could imitate the powers of any other miraculous, as well as working as camouflage which could hide its user when they wished to remain hidden.”

“Which also means that if Hawkmoth got his hands on it…”

“Yes, it means he could have the power of any other miraculous.”

“But then why doesn’t he just imitate the powers of the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculouses, then?”

“A couple of reasons,” said Tikki, “First off, the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculouses are difficult to imitate. Second, the powers of the Chameleon are only an _imitation_ , not the real thing, and are therefore temporary and limited. Hawkmoth would not be able to talk to his akumas while out of costume. A real butterfly can. Third, Hawkmoth seeks to use the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculouses _at the same time_ , which is difficult to do when you can only imitate one.”

“In that case, Tikki, have you known all along that we’re facing the Chameleon miraculous?” she said, glaring slightly at the little goddess.

“No,” Tikki said, “I have my suspicions, but… I’m not 100% sure that it is the Chameleon.”

“Is there any way to prove it?”

“None that I know of,” said Tikki, “Unless Leonni, the Chameleon kwami were to send us a sign… But the fact that these akumas are so easy to beat, coupled with the fact that they are easy to cleanse, points more towards the power of the Chameleon than that of the Butterfly. But if you were to find the true Butterfly brooch, if that’s even possible, then… You would know for sure that Hawkmoth is a Chameleon.”

“So… Adrien?” she said.

Tikki shrugged.

“Okay,” she breathed out, “Okay.”

* * *

 As soon as Marinette reentered the room, Adrien apologized.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you’d dislike Camille so much. We can choose another team for Plan C, if you want?”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Marinette said, suddenly remembering again why she had had such a massive crush on this boy, “Camille is fine. And Callidus, of course. But we’ll go for Ladybug and Chat Noir first, right?”

Adrien nodded. “Sure.”

The alarm went off. Someone went sprinting by their classroom window. “AKUUUMAAAA!”

Despite it, the entire class burst out laughing.

“I still expect you to have your superhero team picked out by tomorrow,” said Madame Rousseau, “Now, you know the drill. Let’s go.”

They exited the classroom through the outside window and went down to the ground. There, Madame Rousseau brought them to a nearby cafe.

“You may make your way home now. Please stay safe.”

Marinette split.

* * *

 Ladybug arrived on the scene just in time to see the akuma, a tall woman in a black and white costume and some painful-looking heels, throw her partner into a wall.

“Chat!” she called out, “Are you alright?

Chat stood up, grumbling and rubbing his head, “No worries, m’lady, I’ve got this one in the bag.”

The akuma shrieked. “You are so _annoying_!”

“What?” Ladybug said, discreetly pulling her yoyo out.

“My name is Persephone!” shrieked the akuma.

“No, no, Hawkmoth _clearly_ intended for it to be _Purse_ -ephone,” Chat threw his staff at the woman, who threw a massive pink handbag at it in return, “C’mon, help me out here, man. I know you love puns just as much as I do.”

Ladybug face-palmed. “No, Chat, we do not try to communicate with the enemy for the sake of puns, we _destroy them_.”

He looked at her and physically wilted, “But… m’lady! Puns!”

She shot him an unimpressed looked and threw her yoyo around her akuma, tying her up. Persephone generated a dozen pursed which sent her yoyo reeling back into her hands. The akuma cackled loudly and then ran off.

“Man, it’s like Hawkmoth isn’t even trying anymore,” she grumbled.

“C’mon, m’lady!” Chat said, jogging up to her. He sent her a dazzling grin, and said, “We’ve got to _pursue_ her!” before boosting himself onto the rooftops and running away.

“Good!” she screamed, wrapping her yoyo onto a tower edge and hoisting herself up onto the rooftops, “You’d better run! I’m going to-” she let out a noise of frustration.

* * *

 Persephone loomed over them, dozens of purses swirling around them menacingly as they stood back to back.

“Any plans?” Chat murmured, holding his baton out in front of him defensively.

Her lucky charm, which she had summoned only moments before, was a lemon. 

“I…” she looked up, and instantly, the answer flew into her mind, “Okay. I know what to do.”

“Well,” Chat said. He turned to meet her eye for a moment, and their cheeks were very, _very_ , close.

“Just know that whatever you do,” he said quietly, his voice just a touch too close for comfort, “I’ve got your _bag_.”

* * *

 Ladybug and Chat Noir found their way onto the roof of the building. The akuma victim recovered almost instantly, and had brushed off any talk of mental help and whatnot, instead opting to go on another shopping trip to buy more… purses. They informed Roger of her identity and then went on their merry way.

“We need to talk,” she said the instant her feet touched the concrete.

“Ouch, m’Lady, are you breaking up with me?”

She swatted the back of his head lightly. He yelped.

“After all those stupid puns, I definitely would. But… It’s about… Hawkmoth, I guess.”

“Uh…Now?”

“No,” she said immediately, “Akuma attack and whatnot. I’d better get home first, make sure everyone knows I’m safe, let my kwami recharge. Um… how does 7:30 at the rooftop pool of Le Grand Paris sound?”

“Great,” said Chat Noir.

“Bring some money,” she said, “I’m not paying for your milk, kitty.”

And with that, she yoyo-ed away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, if only I had assignments like this. (Man, if only magical superheroes existed!) Mme. Rousseau is a random generic teacher who teaches "History". Augh honestly this is such a middle school assignment it literally pains me but it's necessary for lazy plot reasons or whatever. Somebody help me, I don't know anything about secondary education in France other than how it's NOT supposed to be like this and how these four would 100% not be in the same history class or maybe even the same school.  
> Season 2 Episode 1 comes out somewhere today (augh, I can't even remember, I'm so off today... Spain? Oh, would you look at that. Disney XD UK uploaded the entire episode onto youtube. Oh wait, I don't live in the UK. Nevermind.)  
> If you are, for some reason, curious about these superhero names, then:  
> Camille: I 100% ripped off of Camille's name from... from... Here we are, "Back To Us" by DarkReyna16. I just realized I never bookmarked it. Oops. Go check it out, it's cool. However, her powers are different to the Camille in "Back To Us". Wow I just realized what a cheap plot this is - hey, a miraculous that can imitate the powers of other miraculouses! WOW!!!! I guess Hawkmoth's not really a hawkMOTH anymore is he SIKE  
> Callidus: I played around with Google Translate for a minute or two until I found out "callidus" meant "intelligent/crafty/sly/cunning" in Latin. It's pretty plausible, but I did have a different name for them originally, but wound up using said name for another (unposted) fic so yayyy here we are with Callidus.  
> *yawns* okay well I hope you enjoyed this chapter I didn't even write action into like I meant to and you can use your imagination to figure out how Ladybug used the lemon to defeat Purse-ephone (she threw it at her? She stuffed it into her bag? Honestly, I don't even know how the Miraculous team comes up with these things. *throws a basketball out the window, down a slide, and hits the head of supervillain* SCORE!!!)  
> Am I the only one who find that Marinette and Adrien are too immature in the show to form a lasting relationship? I would much rather they get together when they're older and able to see each others flaws and appreciate them fully than to have them form a relationship based on pure infatuation.  
> You can expect updates on the weekends-ish now. K bye


	5. "Sunset Superheroes"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I'll keep the chit _chat_ to a minimum in this one.  
>  P.S. I would highly recommend drinking a glass of orange juice with this chapter. Or maybe a vanilla milkshake. It's up to you, really.  
> EDIT 14/11/17: I accidentally named the drink Chat drinks two different names, "Tropical Dream" and "Tropical Paradise", so I fixed that, although I doubt anyone noticed.

Ladybug told the nervous bartender her order as she tapped her foot impatiently. Soon enough, a dark shape landed beside her.

“Good evening, my Lady,” Chat Noir said, taking her hand and placing a kiss on it, “Have you ordered yet?”

“One vanilla milkshake,” the bartender said, placing it in front of her, “That’ll be 5 euros, ma’am.”

She slid a 5 euro bill across the counter (she had kept her money in the one pocket that Tikki had agreed to modify into her suit just for tonight) before picking up her drink. “Thanks,” she said to the bartender, before turning to her partner, “You gonna get anything, Kitty?”

“One Tropical Paradise, thank you,” Chat Noir said, placing 8 euros on the counter.

“Tropical Paradise? That’s not alcoholic, is it?”

“No,” Chat Noir said, “Just an orange and mango mocktail, a splash of lime, and some ice.”

“Doesn’t seem like much for 8 euros,” she said.

“This _is_ a five-star hotel, my Lady,” he replied, drumming his fingers on the counter as the bartender shook up his drink.

* * *

 The rooftop of the Grand Parisian was empty aside from them and the bartender, who was already turning his attention back to his phone. It was Thursday, and the sun was sinking slowly into the horizon, glimmering beautifully in the pool’s reflection and bathing the roof in orange light.

Ladybug led him over to one of the tables and pulled a chair out, sitting down. He did the same across from her.

“So, what did you find out about Hawkmoth?” he said, leaning back on his chair and taking a sip from his drink.

“First things first,” Ladybug said, setting her milkshake down, “My kwami has told me that Hawkmoth might not have the Butterfly miraculous.”

“Then which one?”

“She suggested the Chameleon miraculous,” she pushed her bangs out of her face, “It has the power to-”

“-to imitate the power of any other miraculous, yes, I know,” Chat Noir cut her off, “What made your kwami suggest this?” He wondered where Ladybug had heard about the Chameleon. Well… Camille was active in the sixties. It was public knowledge, after all.

“She noticed that the akumas are weaker than a real Butterfly’s, and that they are easier to defeat,” Ladybug said, “But the only way to know would be for the Chameleon kwami to send us a message in some way… Or for us to find the Butterfly brooch.”

“Oh?” Chat Noir said, quirking an eyebrow. They wouldn’t be finding the Butterfly brooch any time soon, but she didn’t know that.

“Yes,” she said, “Fortunately for us, I’ve already got a suspect.”

“Really?” he said in an amused tone, taking a huge swig from his Tropical Paradise. Who was she thinking of?

“Yes,” she said, “Adrien Agreste.”

He choked. Coughing loudly, he put his glass down and thumped his chest. How did she find out?

“I know,” Ladybug continued, oblivious to his inner turmoil, “I didn’t think it either.”

“How did you find out?” Chat asked when he gained his bearings. His face was very red.

“He’s _constantly_ surrounded by butterflies,” she grumbled, sounding annoyed, “And he wore a ring. Your miraculous is a ring, right?”

“Y-yeah, it is!” he said, eyes wide as he sucked his breath in.

“Whoever made these miraculouses must be really uncreative then,” Ladybug said, looking out at the sunset for a moment, “Using a ring for more than one… Ugh.”

“Haha, yes, very uncreative,” he said, exhaling quietly, “Is that all?”

“I think so,” Ladybug said, “We’ll have to investigate Adrien Agreste further, but we can arrange that for a later time, of course.”

“But uh… you don’t think Adrien is _Hawkmoth_ , do you?” He _had_ to know. Was that why she was acting so strange around Adrien when he met her in that alley?

“Oh, I did before, but this Chameleon theory blows that out of the water,” she said, “And… in retrospect, I’ve seen him around before an akuma goes off and it’d be a bit difficult to hide talking to akumas then, wouldn’t it?”

A true Butterfly wouldn’t need to be costume to talk to their Champions, but Ladybug didn’t have to know that. But… he did have to be in costume to release a butterfly and meet a Champion. At least, that’s what Nooroo said. He had never made a Champion before.

He finished his drink, and placed it on the table next to Ladybug’s empty milkshake glass. She smiled warmly at him as she stood, offering him her hand. He took it, and she led him to the poolside.

“Wanna go swimming, _chaton_?” she asked, experimentally dragging a toe across the surface of the pool and disrupting the mirror-like reflection of the sunset.

“Cats don’t like water,” he replied, “But I’ll make an exception for you, of course.”

She smirked. “Good.”

And then she shoved him into the pool.

* * *

 Chat Noir spluttered, gasping for air as he came up. He glared at her, his ears down and his golden hair completely wet. His face glimmered with droplets of water. It took everything in her will not to burst out laughing at the expression on his face.

“You’ll pay for that,” he said, swimming closer.

“Will I?” she said challengingly as she sat on the edge of the pool, slipping her legs into the cool water.

“You will,” he said, smirking as he floated in front of her.

She hummed and leaned forward, reducing the distance between their faces. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“How about, ‘your eyes are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in the world’?” Chat Noir answered, meeting her gaze. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks.

Oh _dieu_ , what was she doing? Her heart was beating as fast as a drum in her chest as she leaned tantalizingly closer to her superhero partner. He was drenched, his hair plastered to his forehead and the left side of his face painted in the warm orange light of the dying sunset. He blinked slowly, and looked up at her, a smirk on his soft lips and green eyes burning into her.

Her bangs brushed against his wet face, and a spike of adrenaline shot through her.

’Oh,’ she thought, ‘ _oh_.’

He leaned closer, winding his hands around her waist, taking seeming pride in how she shivered.

“Cats might not like water,” he said, only just loud enough for her to hear, “But… you know what?”

“What?” she said, her breath hitching as his forehead pressed against hers. She could smell the mango on his breath.

“Neither do ladybugs,” he said. His eyes flashed, and he pulled her into the pool.

* * *

 Maybe a good splash of water was what she needed, she thought, as she scrambled up for air, What… what was that? Was she about to _kiss_ Chat Noir?

Maybe since her crush on Adrien had given way… She could give Chat some thought? What was this? Had she _always_ been attracted to Chat Noir, and just smothered it by thinking constantly about Adrien?

She surfaced, breathing heavily and trying to regain her composure. Chat Noir’s lamp-like eyes glowed across from her. The sun had gone down, and the light was fading quickly.

“You look like a drowned cat,” she said, before her brain could filter the thought. Dammit! She was supposed to be witty and cool, not… insulting and weird!

Chat Noir laughed lowly. “You wouldn’t have said that a minute ago.”

Crap, he was right, and he knew he was right… Think Ladybug, think!

“A minute ago I wouldn’t have done _this_ ,” she said, and splashed him.

“Oh, it is _on_ ,” Chat Noir said, extending an arm and rotating it towards her. A wave splashed her in the face.

She shook her head, smiled at him, then slipped down under the water. She grabbed his legs and pulled him down. He kicked out, and she let go, diving further down and swimming away from him.

She popped out of the water a few metres away from him. “Tag,” she said, “You’re it.”

His eyes narrowed and he disappeared into the water. Frantically, she dove underwater herself and swam across the length of the pool until the end. She could see Chat’s eyes glowing in the dark. He looked around, eyes eventually finding her, and shot forward in the water.

She shifted along the pool wall, trying in haste to avoid him, but then she was in a corner, and she couldn't move away fast enough to avoid him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the surface.

“Gotcha.”

“No fair,” she said, prying his hand off her arm, “You’ve got night vision! That’s practically cheating!”

“Then I guess you should’ve thought of that before you challenged me, huh?” he cocked an eyebrow.

She let out a _pfft_ before swimming to the edge of the pool and dragging herself out to sit on the edge. She squeezed the water out of her pigtails, grumbling.

“Aww, is the princess upset with her knight?” teased Chat as he swum up to the edge next to her, placing his arms on the tile and sinking into them.

“If anyone’s the princess, it’s _you_ , Chat Noir,” she said, and kicked at the water to splash him.

He shook his head, letting loose all the water droplets in his hair. He sniffed, wrinkling his nose.

“We smell like chlorine,” he said, “I’m going to have to douse myself in scented shower gel to get this out.”

“Why not just say you went out for a swim?” she suggested, wringing her wet bangs.

“I’m not supposed to be swimming in the first place,” he said, his head sinking into his arms, “I’ve been a few times, but unless I can convince my father to let me go to swimming lessons, he sees no point in letting me swim for - for _leisure_.” He sneered.

“Well, look on the bright side,” she said, “Your father won’t care if _Chat Noir_ goes swimming, hm?”

“Yeah, expect Chat Noir _hates_ water,” he said vehemently, “It must be a cat thing, but… while I’m in the suit, water is just… not my thing, I guess.”

“Poor kitty,” she said, “Why aren’t you getting out, then?”

“Like it or hate it, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he replied, glancing up at her, “On the rooftop pool of Le Grand Paris with Ladybug? Mm, my father can complain all he wants. I could care less.”

She giggled, “Well, worry not, _chaton_ , I’m leaving soon, so you won’t have to suffer for any longer.”

“Nooo, my Lady, dooon’t,” Chat said, draping a hand over his forehead and falling back into the pool with a small splash, “How _could_ you? How will I _live_ without you gracing my presence?”

“You’ll survive,” she answered, “Besides, it’s getting late. My parents will start to worry if I’m not home soon.”

“Okay, then,” he said, “See you next akuma, or something.”

She giggled as she detached her yoyo from her waist and rolled it up and down experimentally. She glanced at her partner.

“Or something,” she agreed with a warm smile. 

Then she threw her yoyo and disappeared into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	6. I haven't got the heart (or the nerve) to tell you so

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette goes home, and so does Adrien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I totally, absolutely forgot about the original source of Chapter 2 and now I feel terrible.  
> In any case, dear reader, may I impress it upon you that much of Chapter 2 was not originally my idea, but rather heavily inspired by the work "Chat Noir’s Heroic Family Ties" by Squirrel_Stone. Please go and check it out - it's really good!
> 
> Anyways, on to the happenings of the previous chapter.  
> So... yeah. That happened. I hope you grabbed a glass of orange juice to go with the chapter. If not, grab one now and go reread it! I love rereading the previous chapter of a recently-updated fic, so that I can catch up with the story before getting into the new stuff. But that's just me. You do you, boo.  
> I'm not really entirely sure where that scene sprung up from, (bleh, blehbleh) but lemme just tell you right now, I am _super_ weak for Ladynoir. I'd been fine-tuning that chapter for a while now so that it made you as confused and stressed out as Marinette. There was an alternate ending to that chapter, maybe I'll post it in the future if anyone's interested? (or not.)  
>  Anyways, the last chapter was the end of the pre-written content in this fic. From now on, you're getting fresh writing, which means I can't promise consistent updates. The chapters will likely be shorter, less substantial and detailed, and may have some errors and mistakes.  
> Uh... what else, what else... Oh, yes, this chapter. Um. It's not as good as the previous chapter, in my opinion, considering I spent a lot less time on it. But it's alright. If you see any mistakes, feel free to point them out.  
> ALSO WARNING SEASON 2 SPOILERS: Gabetrayed  
> QUICK EDIT (LIKE TWO MINUTES AFTER POSTING THIS CHAPTER): UM???? APPARENTLY THERE'S 40 PEOPLE SUBSCRIBED TO THIS FIC??? SINCE WHEN? LAST I CHECKED IT WAS HITTING LIKE 15 OR 20 OR SMTH... ALSO 73 KUDOS? (okay sorry but this is pretty exciting for me. _reveal_ thyself, lurkers)  
>  Edit 27/12/17: MORE THINGS about the last chapter!  
> \- When cats blink slowly at you, it's like they're saying "I love you"  
> \- I have no idea whether ladybugs like water or not, and neither does Chat

As soon as she detransformed in the safety of her bedroom, she grabbed a towel and shoved it into her dripping hair, already marching to the bathroom, ignoring Tikki calling after her.

“Cookies in the jar,” she said, “Just phase through and grab one.”

Then, with extreme stealth, slipped past her parents to the bathroom.

She let out a loud sigh as the warm water flowed through her hair, soothing away some of her stress. Mechanically, she drowned herself in scented shampoo and shower gel before rinsing and stepping out.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

Dark circles under her eyes (balancing saving Paris with finishing homework and trying to get grades good enough to graduate wasn’t easy), the blue highlights that had graced her hair since she was 13 were slowly fading out (she couldn’t find the time to dye it again), and a small bruise was glowing on her cheek from when she had failed to dodge a punch from an akuma (“I accidentally punched myself while sewing!”)

As she licked her dry lips, she wondered what Chat Noir would think of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

* * *

 Adrien got home as late as he possibly could, but his father was there anyways, waiting on the staircase. He wondered idly how long he’d been standing there.

“Adrien,” he greeted.

Internally, he groaned. _Damn it. I_ knew _I should’ve taken the window._

“Hello, Father,” Adrien said, projecting his most genuine fake smile at him. His father wouldn’t know the difference.

“Where were you?”

“I, uh, I went to the library!” he said, grinning wider, “I saw a couple of my classmates there, you know, so I hung out with them while I did my homework.”

“And you did this for,” his father paused to check his watch, “Three hours?”

“Surely you remember what it’s like to be a lycéen,” Adrien said, dropping his fake smile to grimace, “And on top of that, fencing, Chinese, piano, _and_ I’m graduating this year.”

His father nodded, “Of course.”

Then they both stood there for a moment, awkwardly looking at each other.

“So, uh,” Adrien had never heard his usually eloquent father say ‘uh’ in his entire life, “If you can spare the time from studying, I would like to talk to you in my office.”

“Of course,” he said. No “I’ve got homework” or “my legs hurt” would save him now. “Can I put my bag in my bedroom?”

“Just bring it.”

* * *

One minute later, his father was awkwardly pouring him a cup of tea while he awkwardly hummed the theme to Sailor Moon as he awkwardly pretended to move some things around in his bag.

“So…” Adrien said, picking up his cup of tea. He attempted to sip it silently, but accidentally would up making a loud slurping noise instead. He hurriedly put the cup down, wiping his mouth on his sleeve and blushing furiously.

His father carefully avoided his gaze, looking down at his glass desk and papers to sign as though they were something _very very_ interesting, like when Adrien brought Alix over to work on a school project. His father simply couldn’t fathom Alix’s pink hair and skater style, but bit his tongue.

“I know you and Mother were Madame Monarque and Roi Paon,” he blurted out, desperate to break the pure, unadulterated _awkward_ that flowed through the room.

“Hah, yes, that we were,” his father said. Adrien didn’t even need to look down to tell he was wringing his hands.

“The, uh, that, then, why did you retire?”

His father continued to stare down at the desk.

“Father?” Adrien asked concernedly. When his father didn’t respond, he picked up his cup again to take a long (quiet) sip, more out of an urge to _do something_ rather than because he wanted to.

Adrien’s father looked up at him slowly, and said, “Chat Noir, then?”

Adrien spat out his tea. It stained the papers at the top of the neat pile, but his father didn’t say anything, instead crossing his legs and looking at him with a calm stare.

“You’re not the only one who looks at the Ladyblog,” his father said coolly, picking up his own cup of green tea and taking a slow, elegant sip.

* * *

 “Hey, m’lady, have you got a minute?”

“Oh, nothing’s wrong. But, uh… My father knows my identity.”

“What-no, no, no, calm _down_ , LB-”

“It’s a, a bit complica-”

“La-”

“Ladyb-”

“Ladybug!”

“ _Thank_ you. You know that video you told me to watch on the Ladyblog?”

“…Well, Alya’s conspiracy theory was correct. My parents actually _are_ Madame Monarque and Roi Paon.”

“Oh, I haven’t asked him yet - Hey, Father, do you want to meet Ladybug?”

His father was frantically fluttering his hands around, shaking his head.

“Oh, uh, not now, sorry Bugs.”

“Yeah, maybe later. That’s all for now. Just thought I ought to let you know.”

“On Thursday? I, ah, um… No, I’ve got a thing then.”

“Yeah, Friday’s good.”

“See you, m’lady.”

He ended the call and detransformed. Plagg came spiralling out of the ring, and immediately continued glaring at his father.

“Why is your kwami so furious with me?” his father asked with mild curiosity.

“Maybe because you’re a rubbish father, or something,” Plagg muttered.

“What was that?” His father loomed over Plagg, looming down over him with the same look that made interns burst into tears.

Plagg glared up at him, unaffected, “Because you’re so distant from your son that he doesn’t even know your favourite colour, because you never want to spend time with him unless it’s for work, because you’re so cold and uncaring and he thinks you think of him as your employee rather than your child.”

“Plagg!” Adrien cried, mortified. He picked up the kwami and deposited him onto his head. “Time-out!”

“I’m the god of destruction,” Plagg said, instantly floating off his head and turning to narrow his eyes at Adrien, “I don’t need to adhere to your time-outs.”

He looked up at him with kitten eyes.

“Fine,” he grumbled, zipping back to nestle into Adrien’s hair.

He looked back up at his father, the smile fading off his face as he saw his expression.

“Is it true?”

Adrien blinked. “What?”

“Is is true?” he repeated.

“Is _what_ true?” he asked, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion.

“What your kwami said,” his father said, pursing his lips, “Is that what you really think of me?”

“Well, uh,” Adrien said, glancing off to the side, “I guess… Plagg knows me better than anyone else, really…”

“So it _is_ true.”

Adrien looked up at his father again. Blank face, mild confusion painted subtly in the narrowing of his eyes. He didn’t know. He _really didn’t know._ In the matter of seconds, all the rage and emotion that he had stuffed into the dusty closet in the back of his mind came bursting out.

“Of _course_ it’s true!” he said, “I can count on one hand how many conversations we’ve had in the past month!”

His father flinched, drawing back, but Adrien continued, the heat growing in his cheeks as his heart started beating to a faster tempo.

“Do you _really_ need my confirmation? Can you not see it yourself? How little time or thought you’ve given to me over the last few years?! You’re so cold and uncaring, sometimes I wonder, am I a vase or am I a human?! You don’t care about me at all! All you care about is your _stupid_ company and your _stupid_ job, and…” he let his voice peter out, and when he spoke again, his voice was trembling, the weight in his throat suddenly too heavy for him to raise his voice.

“You don’t know me at all. Pretend that you care about me, you can keep doing that for eternity. But I’m _done_ pretending with you.”

His father was looking at him with wide eyes. Adrien ripped his gaze away and strode out the door.

* * *

 “Plagg?” he said thickly.

“Let’s go.”

“Plagg, claws out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here comes the angst, here comes the angst (quick question; would any of you want to see Mari's point of view during that phone (yoyo/baton/whatever) conversation?)


	7. In the middle of the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette just wants to sleep, but she has priorities...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! I am, indeed, alive. Sorry for up-and-disappearing for like 3 weeks. Man, Season 2 has been wild!  
> I also wrote this chapter really quickly. If you see any mistakes, let me know. (It'll probably be edited eventually.) Otherwise, enjoy!

She was almost asleep when she heard Tikki’s voice in front of her. “Chat Noir’s calling you,” she said.

Yawning, Marinette sat up. “Do you mind transforming?”

“Not at all,” Tikki said, “But do you?”

“Wha’eber,” she mumbled, “Tikki… transform me!”

She sluggishly detached the yoyo from her waist and flicked it open.

“Hey, m’lady, have you got a minute?” Chat’s voice flowed out.

She was going to say ‘I was almost asleep’ but stopped herself, knowing that he would only apologize to her ten times over.

“Sure, is there something wrong?”

“Oh, nothing’s wrong. But, uh… My father knows my identity.”

And just like that, she bolted up, suddenly wide awake. 

“Chat, Chat, _what_? He _knows_?” Leaping out of her bed, she landed on her bedroom floor and started to pace as her partner frantically tried to soothe her. “He _knows_ your identity? Oh, this is bad, this is bad, this is so bad… How did this happen?”

“It’s a, a bit complica-”

“It’s over, I’m going to be partnerless. I can’t save Paris on my own, I’m not strong enough!”

“La-”

“Was he pissed? Oh, I bet he was pissed. My parents would be pissed if they knew, and they’re nice!”

“Ladyb-”

“And from what you’ve told me about your dad, he’s a total jerk! It’s over, isn’t it? Are you going to tell me you have to quit? Because I can’t do this without you, you know, you’re my only-”

“Ladybug!”

She blinked, and then took a slow, deep breath. “Yes?”

“ _Thank_ you. You know that video you told me to watch on the Ladyblog?”

“Yes?” she said, wondering where he was going with this.

“Well, Alya’s conspiracy theory was correct. My parents actually _are_ Madame Monarque and Roi Paon.”

“Whaaat,” she laid down on the floor, “What are the odds? So he’s not pissed? Lucky you, getting the superhero parents. Hey, do you think he could meet with me? I wouldn’t mind some tips and tricks on superhero-ing. Maybe he could train us or something. We both know you need some work with your baton.”

“Oh, I haven’t asked him yet - Hey, Father, do you want to meet Ladybug?” There was a brief pause, and then Chat continued, “Oh, uh, not now, sorry Bugs.”

“Oh, no problem.”

“Yeah, maybe later. That’s all for now. Just thought I ought to let you know.”

“Still totally insane… Anyways, are you free on Thursday? For patrol?”

“On Thursday? I, ah, um… No, I’ve got a thing then.”

“Oh, okay, how about Friday?”

“Yeah, Friday’s good.”

“Okay, then. See you, Chaton.”

“See you, m’lady.”

She flicked her yoyo shut, “Tikki, detransform me!”

Then Marinette crashed back onto the floor, and her kwami came to settle on her knee, yawning.

“D’you need cookies?” she asked, creaking an eye open.

“No… It was just a call. Maybe a nap… You should go back to bed, Marinette.”

“Yeah, I should, I really should, shouldn’t I?” she mumbled sleepily, “But this floor is so… cozy, isn’t it? Yeah, cozy…”

* * *

A thud sounded from above her.

Marinette stirred awake. A loud creak came from up above.

Instantly, her thief senses were on. She sat up, gently taking her sleeping kwami and depositing her onto her soft doll bed, then, grabbing an umbrella, she slowly and silently climbed up to the trapdoor. Another creak, softer, sounded out, and she burst out of the trapdoor, ready to swing with her umbrella - 

“Chat Noir?”

It was him… At least, she thought it was. The moonlight shone brightly, and she could see it carve out his figure.

“Did I wake you up?” he said thickly, “Sorry, Marinette.”

“How do you know my name?” she asked.

“Evillustrator,” he offered a little too quickly.

“You still remember that?” Marinette said, scoffing, “What are you doing here?”

“Just… patrolling.”

“Where’s Ladybug?”

“She’s probably sleeping.”

His voice was quiet but heavy. No amused grins, no puns, no jokes. Something was wrong with her partner.

“Are you… okay?”

He turned to face her. His green eyes glowed brightly - only just a little _too_ brightly.

“I should go,” Chat Noir mumbled, “Sorry for waking you up.” He put a foot up on the rail of her balcony, and she reached out, grabbing his arm.

“No!” she cried out, a little too loudly for Paris in the middle of the night. Lowering her voice, she spoke again, “Don’t go. I’ll bring some hot chocolate, okay? It’s a good thing you woke me up, anyways. I was sleeping on the floor. A mistake,” she added hastily, “I was really sleepy. But never mind that. Just stay. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

He blinked slowly, then put his foot back down and visibly slumped. “Okay,” he said, sounding resigned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so tempted to call this chapter Midnight Marichat... But that's too meta, isn't it? Doesn't fit with the aesthetic of my other chapter titles. Anyways, that'll be moreso next chapter than this one. This just has some introductory plot for the next chapter which will be up... eventually? Oh boy, I have 47 subscribers now! Maybe once we hit 50 I'll post that alternate ending to "Sunset Superheroes"? Who knows!  
> I also started another fic for some stupid reason. But go check it out, I guess. It's not much yet... just some lack-of-exposition nonsense that will be cleared up later.  
> Anyways, have a nice day and leave your thoughts in the comments below!


	8. Midnight Marichat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Chat Noir drink hot-chocolate together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy December! Wow, can you believe that 2017 is almost over? It feels like we were just celebrating the end of 2016! (Darn. I'm gonna really miss putting a 7 at the end of the date.)  
> Season 2 has begun and is smashing all my headcanons to bits but that's okay because "Dark Owl" came out and it fulfilled all of my Ladynoir desires ever.  
> Here's a Stats update on the fic, if you're interested:  
> Subscriptions: 57 Hits: 1841 Kudos: 93 Comment Threads: 29 Bookmarks: 20  
> Whaaat. Over 50 subscribers! Does that mean I have to post the alternate ending to Sunset Superheroes somewhere? Well... nah. I'll wait until we get 100 kudos.  
> Anyways, this chapter is called "Midnight Marichat" just purely because I was too lazy to make up a new title and also because one of the commenter assured me it wasn't meta.  
> Anyways, I guess this is the obligatory Marichat "Chat visits Marinette at night and they chill" chapter. Enjoy!

Marinette quickly draped a thin piece of fabric over Tikki’s bed, then hurried back over the trapdoor, wincing as her back stabbed into her.

 _Never sleeping on the floor again_ , she thought, _no matter how sleepy I am_.

“You can come down now,” she called up. Chat Noir leaped down into her bedroom, and she immediately felt self-conscious. The only people who usually came here were her parents or friends, so… she had no idea what Chat Noir would think of it.

Her room had changed a lot since collége. It was a summer project that she undertook with Alya’s help. The original pink theme in her room was unnoticeable now, with a variety of pastel colours thrown about. First off, her walls were now painted a variety of pastel colours instead of just pink, but a lot of the furniture, including her chaise and dresser, was still pink. However, she had replaced her pink rug with a fluffy orange and yellow one instead, and painted the ceiling the colours of the sunrise.

However, her room was pretty messy at the moment, her sewing table overflowing with fabric and a couple of her pillows on the floor.

“Sorry it’s so messy,” Marinette said, shutting the trapdoor to the roof before climbing back down into her room, “I’ve got a lot of work to do for my, uh… I’m going into fashion design,” she explained, “So… yeah, a lot of work.”

“Cool,” said Chat. He glanced over at her wall of photos. “Friends?” he asked.

“Friends,” Marinette agreed, walking over to the wall. She pointed at a candid shot of her and Alya at the beach during collége, “My best friend, Alya. She runs the Ladyblog. We aren’t talking as much this year as last year, because,” she ran her hand over to the photo next to it, “Nino, her boyfriend. Well. Not him. But we’re both busy, and she’s got to pay attention to both of us, and also run her blog and communicate with her other friends…” she slid her finger down to a photo of four people together, “Adrien. He’s… Nino’s best friend. He’s nice…” she paused, “But I don’t know him well enough, I guess.” Marinette let out a sigh. She had been thinking a lot, and realized that she had sort of lost her interest in Adrien after the whole “Hawkmoth” ordeal. She was now aware of the fact that she really didn’t know anything about him at all. Her crush on him was… just what it was - a schoolgirl crush.

“Do you not like him?” Chat asked, looking slightly resigned.

“No! No, it’s not that at all,” she said hastily, “Adrien’s fine. He’s good, he really is. I just… I don’t know him much at all. I mean, I know him shallowly. He’s really smart and kind, he does basketball and fencing and piano and Chinese, but…” she trailed off, hesitating, “I mean… I don’t even know how he _feels_ about those things.”

“Why don’t you try to get to know him?” Chat suggested.

“It’s too awkward, I guess,” Marinette shrugged, “What am I supposed to do? ‘Hey Adrien, wanna become friends with me while our best friends spend time together making out?’” she laughed awkwardly.

“Yes,” Chat said flatly, “Say those exact words to him. I bet he’ll say yes.”

She broke into laughter, “No way. Is there any worse way to humiliate myself?”

“I bet you 10 euros he’ll say yes.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Marinette stopped laughing, “Yeah, okay. Humiliation is worth 10 euros. Even if I embarrass myself, I’ll never see him again because we’re both graduating in a few months anyways.”

“I can’t wait to be 10 euros richer,” Chat said.

“Oh, what am I doing?” Marinette said, suddenly remembering how she had gotten Chat to stay, “Food! Snacks! Drinks! Do you still want the hot chocolate?”

“Yes, please,” Chat said. She lead him down the stairs. “Say, _princess_ , your room looks very different from before.”

“What do you know,” Marinette replied, “You’ve been here like, twice.”

“I recall it being very _pink_ in those two instances,” Chat replied.

“I dunno,” she said as she pulled out the ingredients for a proper European hot chocolate, “I just wanted something new, so… Paint the walls, new rug, new bed spread… voila! It’s like a brand new room!” She snapped the chocolate into half, the sudden sound making Chat Noir jump into the air.

“Scaredy cat,” she snickered.

“Pfft,” Chat Noir said, and sat down on the breakfast bar.

“Wha-hey! Get off!” she dropped the chocolate into the pot and hurried over, shoving the cat hero off the bar.

He held his hands up defensively, “Okay, okay, sorry, what did I do?”

“I _eat_ there every morning,” she said, narrowing her eyes, “I don’t need your _butt_ all over it, okay.”

“…Sorry?”

“Hmph,” she said, and turned back to the pot and gave it a stir.

“Oh, princess,” Chat grabbed one of her hands and tugged on it, “However can you forgive me?”

She ignored him.

“Won’t the princess of the bakery find it in her heart to forgive this poor, starving stray kitty?”

She bit her lip, trying not to burst into laughter.

“Shall I write poetry about your eyes, blue as the-”

“No!” she burst out, letting out a nervous chuckle, “No, no. Please don’t. I think I might cry if you do.”

“Cry?” Chat released her hand and stood up, looking alarmed.

“Of laughter,” she added quickly.

“Oh,” he relaxed. He glanced over at her, and blinked twice. “Say, I thought your hair was blue?”

“Haven’t found the time to dye it again,” she said, stirring the pot.

“You… you _dye_ your hair?” Chat squeaked. She gave him a _look_.

“Well, yeah, what, did you think it was naturally blue or something?”

“Pfft, no, of course not,” he replied quickly, “I’m not an _idiot_.”

Silence fell over them for a few seconds, broken only by the sounds of the hot chocolate in the pot, and then Marinette turned to him.

“You _totally_ thought it was natural, didn’t you.”

It took a few seconds, but eventually, Chat replied.

“…Yeah.”

She giggled. “Silly kitty.”

A comfortable silence fell over them. Marinette poured the hot chocolate into two mugs and put the pot in the sink, filling it up with water before returning to the bar, handing one mug to Chat and taking a sip out of the other.

“My best friend, Alya,” Marinette said, putting the hot chocolate down, “She dyes her hair, too. So we make a real spectacle of it together, we have this thing called “dye day”. I go over to her place and I bring the dye and some special cupcakes and she brings trashy tabloids for us to make fun of while the dye settles in. It’s loads of fun. But,” she sighs, “like I said, neither of us have much time outside of school now. So I guess it’ll have to wait.”

“Have you ever thought of dyeing your hair a colour other than blue?” Chat asked.

She hummed. “Not much. I’d like to stick with cooler colours, so blue and at most purple. I won’t be sporting pink her anytime soon, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Plus, if she dyed her hair pink at the same time as Ladybug did, it would seem a touch suspicious.

“What about you?” she asked.

“Not for a year or two,” Chat says, “I… I can’t, I really can’t. My father would _kill_ me if I did, so until I’m out of his grip…”

“No green haired Chat,” Marinette finished his sentence.

“Not green,” Chat said, “Honestly… I would go for pink. And maybe only at the tips. I dunno.”

“Just as long as it’s not acid green, I don’t care,” she replied, “But wouldn’t it be easy for people to figure out who you are that way?”

“If Chat Noir gets pink hair at the same time as my civilian self?” Chat quirked an eyebrow, “Maybe. But I can always say that I “like Chat Noir’s style” and nobody would care any less. Except my best friend. He knows I’m Ladybug trash.”

“Personally,” she said, bringing her voice to a hushed whisper, “I like Chat Noir’s style better.”

Chat laughed. “Fair enough,” he said, “Red isn’t for everyone, I guess. Or polka dots. Don’t tell Ladybug, but…” She felt her heart drop, sure he was about to say something mean about her costume… “Half of my closet is full of Ladybug merch.”

She giggled, relief washing over her. So even if given ample opportunity, her Kitty wouldn’t betray her, even to insult her suit (which she herself, as a budding fashion designer, _hated_.) She hadn’t brought it up with Tikki yet (even after years with her kwami, she was terrified of making her sad) but she would soon. Maybe make a couple new designs and _mildly_ suggest that her outfit be altered.

Hopefully Tikki wouldn’t mind.

“So… you’re like Ladybug Trash #1?” she suggested. Chat’s eyes lit up and he nodded vigorously.

“Oh, _definitely_.”

* * *

 

“Adrien,” Gabriel called, knocking gently on the door. Hearing no response, he figured his son must be asleep or ignoring him, so he pushed to door open.

He wasn’t there.

Gabriel walked over to the bathroom, trying to keep his cool. “Adrien?”

No response. He slid the door open. The bathroom was empty.

 _Calm down_ , his subconscious, which sounded suspiciously like Dusuu said, _He probably went for a run as Chat Noir. You did it all the time when you were his age._

 _Right, but I also never got into fights with my parents,_ he replied.

 _He needs time to cool off,_ his subconscious argued, _and so do you. Let it go. He’ll be back in the morning._

But that didn’t stop how his brain was starting to fry in worry.

Gabriel took a deep breath, let it out, and walked back into the foyer and then into his room.

He opened the painting and entered the code. The safe swung open.

It was there. It was right there. Sure, Duusu would give him a real chewing out when she found out how long she’d been inactive for, but…

He reached, for it, hesitating.

 _Vengeance_ , his mind screamed. He blocked out the thoughts. He had considered it, back when Hawkmoth first emerged - coming out again as Roi Paon to defeat the one abusing his wife’s Miraculous, but then Ladybug and Chat Noir had come along and he figured they could deal with the problem. But now that Adrien was Chat Noir…

He picked up the peacock brooch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *plot twist noises*  
> Okay, not really. I bet most of you saw that coming.  
> Anyways, the next chapter will be up someday sometime somemonth probably next year. Haha, at least that joke makes sense here. (Probably in January.)  
> I have some editing to do with the first couple of chapters (cleansing the fic of typos) but uh yeah. It won't take long, this fic isn't exactly very long (yet).
> 
> Let's see... What do I have to explain about this chapter?
> 
> Marinette's room: I figured that maybe Marinette might like a few other colours in her room besides pink. Maybe not, but she's like 17-18 here as opposed to 13-14 like in the show. So... around four years older?  
> Marinette's hair: Yeah, she totally has blue highlights in this fic. Or not, considering they're fading off. I was gonna make a tiny gag comic about the "dye-day" scene but I decided to write it in here instead.  
> Anyways, see you next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> cry-a-tivity.tumblr.com if you have any complaints about my updating schedule (or lack thereof)


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